Diesel D5 Mobile Comfort System noise

[LarryB]

I have a love/hate relationship with my D5 system as installed at Sportsmobile West. Both the furnace system and hot water systems work great but the furnace noise is loud enough it keeps me from sleeping well at night when it is running. The Espar diesel heater makes the usual jet-engine noise that can be heard inside the van and the fan noise is quite loud. The fan noise is more acceptable at the low speed setting except it is accompanied by a strangely varying high pitched noise that doesn't occur or can't be heard on the high speed. (I tried lubricating the fan but that didn't help.)



The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the heating system is mounted underneath the bed.



Does anyone have any suggestions about how to quiet this system or do I need to choose between lack of heat or lack of sleep on cold nights?

[Yovan]

I assume you have already stalled or know about both the intake and exhaust mufflers.

If not, check them out, they make a big difference. At least on my boat. Haven’t done the install on the van yet.

[Wowbagger]

Originally Posted by LarryB

The fan noise is more acceptable at the low speed setting except it is accompanied by a strangely varying high pitched noise that doesn't occur or can't be heard on the high speed. (I tried lubricating the fan but that didn't help.)

The high pitched whine is likely the re-circulation pump that moves the coolant around the system and through the heat exchangers - it will ramp up and down as the system calls for more heat.


As others have pointed out, there are mufflers for the exhaust that will remove a lot of the "jet engine" part of the sound.

[LarryB]

Originally Posted by Yovan

I assume you have already stalled or know about both the intake and exhaust mufflers.

If not, check them out, they make a big difference. At least on my boat. Haven’t done the install on the van yet.

Do you have a source for those mufflers? I've heard of them but never seen them.

[Fitz]

Originally Posted by LarryB

Do you have a source for those mufflers? I've heard of them but never seen them.

https://www.rixens.com/

Jim can answer most any question you have.

[LarryB]

Originally Posted by Fitz

https://www.rixens.com/

Jim can answer most any question you have.

Thanks Fitz. I thought I'd been on their website but don't recall seeing the filters. I'll check again and give them a call.

[jrobe]

I can't believe SMB West didn't install the muffler. This was standard at SMB Indiana. I planned to add the intake air muffler but it is quiet enough wihout it that it is not worth the effort.

[scatter]

Best espar site and help/advice, parts, etc.

https://www.lubricationspecialist.co...st-components/

[LarryB]

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions everyone. I'm finally back off the road from traveling and talked to Mike at Rixens this afternoon. They have what they call a silencer for the intake and a muffler for the exhaust. I ordered both so will see how that helps with the sound issue. (There is still the issue of the fan, but one thing at a time I guess.)


Perhaps one reason Sportsmobile West doesn't install either of those items by default is due to the cost. The price for the silencer and muffler together were about $135. Hard to believe SMB West would skimp on something like that given the overall cost of the vehicle, but you never know. (I also don't know why they installed the hot water heat exchanger in the D5 system upside down so it doesn't drain like Rixen's say it should when winterizing. But that's a topic for a different thread.)

[LarryB]

A bit of a followup. Rixens sent me the exhaut muffler and silencer for the air intake. When I crawled under the van to install the muffler I found that one had in fact already been installed by Sportsmobile West. It was tucked up where I did not see it on a cursory inspection. So I am returning that for a refund. I was disappointed that I was already getting whatever sound relief a muffler could provide because it still seems too noisy!


I did install the intake silencer. I would say that it does quiet things down a bit but that was not a significant part of the overall sound level of the system. So it seems there is not much else to be done about the whine of the Espar heater. The other major source of noise is the fan and given it's configuration I don't see any way to address that.



I'm thinking the best thing to do now is to try out a good pair of earplugs and/or camp in warmer weather!